Final Fantasy 2-XIII: Role Reversal
by IridiumRing92
Summary: What if Serah fought in Valhalla? What if Yeul was Caius's Guardian? What if Lightning had to travel the timeline with Noel? Would they be able to prevent the collapse of the timeline? The events of Final Fantasy XIII have already happened, but in their wake, some of the characters we so very well know have been changed drastically.
1. Prologue: Fighting In Futility

**Hello readers! IridiumRing92 reporting for duty! I'm sorry to everyone who's been faithfully waiting for my next fanfic, because I honestly haven't had anything in the past few months...**

**Well, anyway. I know that it's not really necessary to talk about my actual life, but for those of you who care, :3 I have to tell you that I've had a lot of medical things going on lately, namely getting my wisdom teeth out, which means I get to sit around and do absolutely nothing for a week. I decided to start writing for FFXIII-2 again because of all the free time I suddenly gained. But, while we're on that thought, I've also been on meds most of the time while writing this, so if you notice anything that doesn't make any sense, that's probably why. Feel free to notify me. Thank you.**

**Oh, but for the record, I came up with this idea before any of that happened.**

**Also, since this is the first chapter, it might be a little confusing. Picture Serah wearing Lightning's uniform. Picture Yeul older. Much older. Twenty-two-ish, not fifteen. The others, at least in this chapter, are the same. We'll get to Lightning and Hope and whoever else later. Anyway, enough of me talking. Get to reading! :3 And as always, feel free to leave a review.**

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**Prologue: Fighting In Futility**

_"That time was lost, yet time continued onward…"_

A slim woman with pink hair collapsed to her knees at the edge of a structure in the center of Valhalla. Her glossy hair spilled over her shoulders, undone from its usual side ponytail, and she wore a suit of polished metal armor with chest and shoulder plates on top. The lower half of the suit ended just before her thighs, showing off her long legs. A curtain of white feathers cascaded from one of her hips down to the floor.

"What… what's happening?" she murmured. "Where am I?"

She extended her hands out in front of her, and a weapon appeared in her palms. A bowsword, violet and pink, elegantly designed with a feel that fit her hands almost flawlessly. She shifted the weapon in her hands. Instinct told her she already knew how to use it, even with her modest previous combat experience and complete lack of knowledge whatsoever of the weapon that had materialized before her. She gripped the weapon in her hands and stood up.

On the shore below her, a pair of figures clustered together at the edge of the water. One, a fragile-looking girl with pale skin and long bluish-silver hair, stood in thigh-deep water over the other, a lavender-haired man wearing a dark outfit that covered nearly every inch of his skin. He lay floating on his back, his long hair fanning out around his head in the water. The girl at his side kept her arms under his back, gently supporting his body. Shock blazed through the pink-haired woman as she realized that his companion laid him to rest: he was dying.

"This eternity… It was never your desire." A breathy, deliberate voice drifted up to the pink-haired woman on the breeze. She guessed it belonged to the girl standing down on the shore. "Is that so… Caius?"

"Caius," the pink-haired woman repeated, staring out at the shore. The man's body dissolved into ash and floated away on the wind.

Left behind, the girl spun to face the pink-haired woman. "Finally," she said, her voice escalating with the words. "We meet… Warrior goddess."

The pink-haired woman narrowed her eyes. "And you are?"

"Yeul," the girl responded. "Yeul ex Vitae, Guardian of the seer Caius Ballad de Canor."

"What does that mean?" the pink-haired woman demanded.

"Well, if you really want to know…" Yeul ex Vitae began. She stretched out a hand and swept it slowly through the air in front of her, fingers splayed. After a second, she snapped her fingers into a fist. Immediately the pink-haired woman heard a noise behind her, and she turned to see the structure behind her collapsing, the stone pillars and roof crumbling slowly into rock shards and tumbling through the air. She clenched her hands around her weapon and leaped over the railing, landing lightly on the sand below.

She stood several hundred yards away from the slender blue-haired girl, and at this distance she could see her better. Yeul ex Vitae looked older up close, the pink-haired woman thought. She wore a long, flowing white dress, in contrast to her charge's stark black armor. The dress's skirt was slit on one side, revealing that she wore gray leggings underneath it, made of silk and wrapped with purple ribbons. She wore simple gray flats for her shoes. She carried no visible weapon.

"I have served as protector to this man, Caius Ballad de Canor, for years." Yeul ex Vitae took a step forward, and as she did so, a long katana appeared in her right hand. "Ten years, in fact. Fate brought us together when he was fourteen and I was twelve. He saw visions—visions of the future. I was charged with protecting him."

The pink-haired woman nodded slowly. "I understand. I—"

"Oh, I know who _you_ are," Yeul ex Vitae interrupted. "You are Serah Farron, sister to Claire. Caius saw you both in his last vision. The vision that killed him."

"Killed him?" the pink-haired woman, Serah, stammered. "I—I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Then I must explain," Yeul hissed, brandishing her sword. "Your actions, the fact that you were saved by Etro, changed the timeline. Because you changed the timeline, he died. _You_ killed him."

"No," Serah exclaimed, shaking her head and backing into the wall behind her. "I've done nothing wrong. I swear. I didn't kill anyone."

"You lie!" Yeul shouted, flying at Serah with her sword outstretched. Serah brought her weapon up at the last second, blocking the hit. Yeul's katana scraped against Serah's bowsword as she stepped closer, leaning into her weapon. "You were the ones who changed the future. You were the ones who took him from me!"

"I don't understand," Serah gasped again, trying to push the Guardian away. "I never—"

"Quiet," Yeul commanded. She stepped back, pushing Serah into the stone wall again. "Listen to me for a minute… You were a l'Cie, doomed to a Focus cast on you by beings more powerful than you could have ever dreamed of becoming. You were doomed to roam Pulse as a Cie'th, or else sleep forever in crystal. But you did neither of those things, as you clearly stand before me alive and well now. And why do you suppose that is?" She raised her free hand into the air, fingers clenched around nothing but space, and Serah heard the crumbling of stone somewhere further away. "Because you were _saved _by the goddess Etro! This was a—a miracle that was never meant to happen. It changed the timeline itself, warped it to accommodate you. Caius Ballad de Canor saw this in a vision—his very last vision. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Serah nodded.

"Now, in his honor, I must kill you." Yeul raised her sword over her head, aiming it at the pink-haired woman, who cowered against the wall with wide eyes.

"You wouldn't," Serah whispered.

"And how do you know?" Yeul snapped. "How long have you known about me, Serah Farron?"

"You can't kill me," Serah continued. "I am here because—because the goddess Etro sent me to protect her, and time itself. I can't die here. I—I just can't."

"The goddess Etro sent you to protect her," Yeul mocked. "And how very comfortable you look in that role."

"I will fight you for as long as it takes!" Serah cried.

"Fine," Yeul said slowly. "So it is, then…"

She swept her hand through the air, and the stone wall collapsed around Serah. The pink-haired woman shrieked and shot out a hand as the rocks came down around her. Almost immediately, a bubble formed around her, and the rocks froze. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself, before she thrust her hands outward, sending a shower of rocks over the sands. Yeul jumped out of the way, blocking shrapnel from the blast with her katana.

"You have those same powers," Yeul whispered. "That is impossible…"

"What do you mean, 'those same powers'?" Serah demanded. When Yeul gave no answer, she added, "I understand you're upset about your precious Caius, but haven't you ever stopped to think that the gods themselves might have been the ones changing the future? Is it because you're angry about what you can't change, and you just want someone tangible to blame it on?" Her voice came out breathless and choked.

"You dare to disgrace Caius?" Yeul snapped. "You don't understand what we went through. You don't even begin to understand the pain I felt, seeing you in that vision for he first time, and watching him collapse for the last."

Serah shook her head and brandished her bowsword in front of her. "If I may, Yeul ex Vitae," she began, keeping her eyes on the ground, "how long have you known about me?"

Yeul drew her katana, mirroring the pink-haired woman, and they flew at each other, clashes of steel resounding in the air as they fought. Neither spoke another word. Yeul pushed Serah back toward the wall; Serah pushed Yeul back toward the shore. Their footsteps, moving back and forth, traced the sand and tore up the smooth surface.

Yeul's katana cut a path slightly too close to Serah's face, and the pink-haired woman jumped back, vaulting to a stone platform on higher ground. Yeul followed, but Serah foresaw the move and broke into a run, leaping over obstructions and gaps as she traversed the stone edifices. Yeul swept her hand out, casting her sword into the ether, and followed her. Serah continued to run, making her way toward the center of Valhalla. A tall building, shimmering with light and images alike, marked the middle of the timeless world. The steps up to the structure stood as Serah and Yeul's last obstacle. Serah raced up them, running toward Etro's throne.

The blue-haired woman caught up to her, but as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the goddess's throne, she stopped. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached out into empty air.

Just as Serah came to the top of the stairs, gasping for breath, light burst forth from the throne, blinding her. She threw her arms over her face and took a step back. Squinting into the light, she began to see the shape of a sigil emerging from the space before the throne. After a moment, the light began to fade. The air inhabited by the sigil shattered like a pane of glass, and a figure burst forth from it. The figure took the shape of a man just before it hit the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" Serah gasped, rushing forward and shaking the shoulders of the unconscious figure lying in front of her. "Wake up!"

"What…?" the man mumbled. He blinked and looked up at her, and her hand brushed his shoulder. He wore a black shirt tucked into blue pants. He had tousled brown hair and striking blue eyes.

Serah's eyes widened. "I… I know your name," she whispered.

The young man shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"You're Noel Kreiss," Serah said. "Right?"

He blinked. "Yeah," he answered. "I am. What's it to you?"

Serah opened and closed her mouth a few times, feeling like a fish out of water. She didn't know what to say. "I don't know," she finally answered. "I don't know…"

"Well, okay," he muttered. "Then what—"

Before he could finish, they heard an explosion from the area below them. Their gazes swiveled in unison to the young woman who stood at the base of the stairs, her hands outstretched. Her thin, long katana no longer graced her hands—instead she appeared to hold the air in her palms once more. Above her, a huge dragonlike creature circled the skies, creating currents in the wind with its wings. It circled over Yeul until it faced the building in the center of Valhalla. It then pressed its wings closer to its body and fell into a dive. Serah knew she had to hurry.

"Look," she said to Noel, "I don't know how or why I ended up here, and I'm not really sure why I know your name, either, but I do know this. You have to get out of here. You have to find my sister. Her name is—is Lightning."

"Where is she?" Noel asked, his bright blue eyes searching hers. Surely he couldn't know who Lightning was, Serah thought, and yet his expression looked so determined.

"I think," Serah began, recalling the scarce visions she'd had since coming to this place, "she is in a place called New Bodhum."

"How do I get there?" Noel asked.

"There should be some sort of gate around here," Serah said, rubbing her temples. "Just run. You'll know it when you find it. I… I trust you."

"You trust me to find your sister?" Noel repeated.

"Yes, I trust you," Serah choked out, taking his hands in hers. "Now go."


	2. Chapter One: Nightmares I've Had

**Hello again! I'm back :3**

**Silly me, I started writing like four stories at once... Just a precaution, I probably won't be updating this one as often. But I do feel better so I'll probably be getting more done overall.**

**Anyway, this chapter kind of echoes the first part of the game in New Bodhum... But things aren't so straightforward, since though Serah was everybody's friend, Lightning doesn't trust anyone...**

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**Chapter One: Nightmares I've Had**

_"My hopes go with you, Noel Kreiss. Become an arrow through time…"_

Lightning jolted awake and sat up, phantom images still raging behind her eyes. She gasped as she realized what she had dreamt. She'd seen her sister, Serah, wearing a shiny silver suit of armor—and _fighting. _She'd seen another woman with blue hair and a katana. The woman with blue hair had watched her companion die on the shores of the place called Valhalla, and then laid him to rest in the water. The dead man had lavender hair and a black suit of armor. Lightning had never seen him before, but she had felt drawn to him. She'd never felt a pull like that toward anyone else.

And, of course, she'd seen that other man—the man who had emerged from the very air of the timeless island. The man Serah had spoken to in front of the blue-haired woman, while she summoned monsters and unleashed them at her opponents. The one Serah had told to find Lightning in New Bodhum.

Lightning sat up straight and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She could hear, in the distance, what sounded like shouting. She wondered why she hadn't woken up earlier. Maybe NORA had decided not to wake her. Lightning had, after all, thrown all the contempt at them that she could come up with in their first few weeks together. She'd made it clear she didn't like them or care what they did.

Still, the noise unsettled her. She stood up and began to cross the room to the window on the opposite side. Before she could make it there, she stopped and looked down at herself. She hadn't yet grown used to the fact that she couldn't wear her military uniform everywhere, and her new outfit didn't always please her. She wore a black collared jacket, rolled up at the sleeves, with a low-cut indigo top underneath. She had also added a pair of gray shorts to the ensemble. Lebreau, one of the members of NORA, had given her the clothes when she had arrived. She'd insisted that Lightning wear a matching indigo piece of fabric, which hung down at her left hip. It reminded her of the cape she had used to wear as part of her Guardian Corps uniform. The only part of the outfit she had initially liked, though, was the black combat boots.

Lightning took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way to the window. Pulling aside the curtains, she looked outside. What she saw made her gasp aloud. NORA and the rest of the island's residents swarmed the beach, fighting what looked like massive android insects. They fired with an array of weapons, but mostly machine guns. Their fire took down several of the monsters and sprayed bullets into the sand.

Knowing she had to act, Lightning dashed out of her room and stumbled into the main room of NORA House. The front door stood wide open, a clear pathway to the scene she'd watched from the window. Lightning reached for her gunblade, expecting to feel the hilt hanging just above the back of her knees, but she ended up grasping at only air. She grunted and spun around, throwing open the kitchen cabinets closest to her. When she came up with nothing but food and supplies, she began to tear through every cabinet and storage area she could find, on the lookout for her weapon. She could have sworn she had seen it just days ago.

A particularly loud explosion hit the shores outside, and Lightning halted her search for her weapon. She broke into a run and sped down the stairs at the front of the house. She'd just have to borrow someone else's weapon, she decided, because they needed her. They couldn't fight like this all on their own.

But when she stepped outside, she emerged not onto a battleground, but a wasteland. The air around her shimmered; the people on the shores disappeared; the trees appeared dead and barren of leaves. The landscape seemed to tilt around her, and as much as she tried to keep her composure, she lost her balance a few yards away from the entrance to the house and fell to her knees.

"What the hell is going on?" Lightning muttered.

At the very moment she finished speaking the words, the air around her changed again. The chaos and clamor of the battle returned, and another body slammed into her, knocking her aside.

"Watch it!" Lightning shouted, pushing herself up from the ground and brushing sand off her skin. "Serah! Where are you?"

"Are you crazy?" Lebreau's voice shouted. "Your sister's not here! She's dead! Do you hear me, Light?"

"I—" Lightning began, but before she could get another word out, one of the monsters swooped in and crashed into Lebreau, pushing her to the ground. Lebreau cried out in pain just before she landed headfirst in the sand. "Damn! Lebreau!"

"Hey, is it just me, or do you look like you need a hand down there?" a voice called.

Lightning looked toward the source of the sound, and her eyes widened when she saw the brown-haired man from her dream, wearing a black shirt and blue pants. He had two swords strapped to his back, and he carried Lightning's gunblade in one of his hands. As Lightning stared, he jumped down from a platform in the air and landed on his feet right next to her.

"Lightning!" he said. "Get up! We gotta fight."

"I know," Lightning snapped. "What are you doing with my gunblade? Are you some kind of thief?"

"Thief?" the man laughed. "No way. Here, take it."

He handed her the weapon, and she snatched it out of his hands indignantly, unsheathing it and swinging it up so that it bit into the soft skin of his throat. "I've seen your face before," she stated.

"Oh yeah?" the man asked. "Is that so."

Lightning decided against elaborating on the fact that she had seen his face in a dream, of all places. Instead she hissed, "Your name."

"Noel," the man answered casually. "Noel Kreiss. I don't think killing me is in your best interest."

"I wouldn't know," Lightning snapped. "This is only the second time I've ever seen you."

"This is the first time I've ever seen you, _Lightning_," Noel Kreiss answered.

Lightning gritted her teeth. She knew Serah had told the man her name, but it still jarred her to hear him speak it out loud when he didn't even know her.

"Well," Lightning demanded, shifting her weight from side to side, "where did you come from, Noel Kreiss, and why do you know who I am?"

"Where did I come from? Well, I guess you could say I came here on that meteorite." Noel pointed down the shore a few miles, past the gates and toward the place where, Lightning could see, smoke rose steadily up from a crater that hadn't been there before. Noel hadn't appeared anywhere near that space, though—he had shown up standing on a piece of rock floating right above NORA House. Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Right. You were sent here by someone named Serah, right?" Lightning answered casually. "From Valhalla?"

Noel opened his mouth as if to say something, but seemed to decide against it. He pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Save the conversation for later, Lightning. We have to fight."

"Fine." Lightning broke away from him and turned toward the enemies that surrounded the other members of NORA and the inhabitants of the island. "If you try anything, I'll kill you outright."

"I'm sure you will," Noel sighed. "H-hey! Hold on a second!"

She had only run about a hundred yards when he caught up with her, grabbing her arm to stop her from running any further. "We fight as a team, okay? Your sister sent me. I think we should, uh, work together."

Lightning pinned him with the most suspicious glare she could manage, but when she turned back toward the fighting, she said, "Fine. We'll work together."

"Good," Noel responded.

"At least for now," Lightning snapped, looking back at him again.

They rushed on, taking turns attacking the beasts. Within a few minutes, the fighting ceased, and New Bodhum's shore fell silent again. The villagers moved in groups; NORA took care of Lebreau and brought her back to the house, but Lightning just stood back and watched, alone.

Noel materialized at her side again. "Do you usually hang around by yourself like this?" he asked.

Before she could answer, Gadot and his group took to Lightning's other side. "Lightning! Good to see you're still in one piece," Gadot said, clapping a hand on Lightning's shoulder. "Thought you'd never decide to join in the fighting. Anyway, we gotta few nasty creatures to take care of over by the crater, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to help."

Lightning didn't respond. She still didn't feel inclined to talk about the dream she'd been having about Serah and the blue-haired woman.

"Now hold on just a minute," Gadot continued, letting his hand slide from her shoulder and stepping in front of her just slightly. "Who do we have here?"

This time Lightning opened her mouth to reply, but Noel spoke before she could. "I'm Noel. Serah sent me."

Gadot snorted. "Yeah, makes a lot of sense, _Noel_. Serah's been gone for years." He stepped closer to the brown-haired man, scrutinizing him. "Is he tellin' the truth, Lightning?"

Lightning shook her head slowly. "Look, Gadot, I don't need you to drag me into this. I don't know what the hell's going on. You can interrogate him on your own later."

Gadot laughed. "Fine, fine," he answered, turning to the other members of his team. Noel shot her a pointed look and held his hands out as if to say, _What's your problem?_

"Hey, look, Lightning and I need to talk," Noel said to Gadot. "We'll, ah, be right with you, okay?"

"Yeah," Gadot laughed, looking at Noel and Lightning over his shoulder. "Right. We'll leave you two to your alone time."

"It's not like that!" Lightning snapped, but the man had already called the rest of NORA to him and walked off.

"There's something I really need to talk to you about," Noel began. "It's—"

He broke off midsentence, and Lightning turned around just in time to see the image of Cocoon disappearing in the sky.

"Cocoon," she whispered.

"That was Cocoon?" Noel asked. "I'd never seen it before. No wonder…"

Lightning turned back to him. Where had he really come from? In what place could he not see Pulse's infamous moon? And why did he seem so… so _calm_ about everything?

"What the _hell_ is going on?" she shouted. "First the dreams, then the meteorite, and now this? I don't need this! You know what? Never mind, don't talk to me!"

She stormed back to NORA House, folding her weapon and shoving it back into its sheath. At first she didn't think anyone had followed her, but after a second she heard footsteps in the sand behind her. She didn't turn around until she reached the steps of the house and someone put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lightning," Noel's voice said. "I need you to be with me on this."

"Yeah?" Lightning snapped. "You want me to believe every word you say just because I saw you and Serah in some dream? Is that what it is? Look, I never asked to come here. I never asked you to be here. I never asked you to steal my damn _gunblade, _for Etro's sake! What on Pulse do you possibly think could change my mind?"

Noel fell silent for a moment. He extended his hand to Lightning, palm up.

"This," he said.


	3. Chapter Two: The Memory Now

**Hello! I'm back :3**

**FIRST OF ALL, Georgia, thank you for your long and detailed review! It makes a lot of sense to me and got me thinking about this next part, so... I guess it's not quite at the point in the game that you wrote about, but I'm keeping it in mind, to be sure. Again, thank you.**

**So one thing I forgot to mention about this story: all the chapter titles are phrases from songs. I'm not gonna give away what songs, because that would spoil it, but if you think you know where one is from, go ahead and mention it somewhere.**

**This part is mostly invented - a flashback, not part of the game at all... We'll get back there in the next chapter. :3**

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**Chapter Two: The Memory Now**

_One year ago…_

Yeul ex Vitae stood at her window, the drapes billowing around her in the breeze, her blue-silver hair floating on drafts of wind. She stared beyond at the city of Paddra. She knew the city well, like the back of her hand: a city graced by technology and nature, a city formed by the rise and fall of the rooftops against a gradient sky. A city presided over by a ruling body and a seer. She also knew this seer well: Caius Ballad de Canor, she two years his senior and yet he superior to her in every way.

She lived miles away from the capitol building, where Caius stayed, but she walked faithfully there almost every day. That was exactly what she prepared to do now. She closed her window, fastening the locks and pulling the curtains over the glass. She descended the stairs of the house and stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. She walked onto the dirt road that would lead her to the capitol building, to the Council and to Caius.

The ruling body, the Council, respected but ignored her. Sometimes one of them smiled at her when she passed, or acknowledged her presence with a nod, but the recognition was scarcely more than that, if any. Yeul had grown used to it over time, though the lack of communication had startled her early on.

Caius, however, was a different story. He watched her like he didn't know how to look at anyone else.

Or, at least, that was how it had used to be.

Yeul arrived at the gates of the capitol building. A quad of guards stood in front of it, their stances straight, their hands locked on the hilts of their swords. One of them jerked his head at Yeul, gesturing for her to go in. Another one snapped his fingers. The gates slid slowly open with a sickening grinding noise. It had used to make her flinch, but now she just stood and watched them, waiting for her chance to step inside. Of course, the gates finally ceased in their movement, and Yeul walked through them and up the walkway to the building. She never once dared to cast a glance at anyone to either side of her.

The front room of the building, a huge, drafty room made of stone and dotted with pillars, was deserted. Yeul continued through the room, making a right turn and ascending the staircase to the second level. She knew the way by now—she had walked this path for nearly ten years. Without so much as a knock she pushed open the large double doors to the room at the top of the stairs and entered.

The Council and Caius awaited her inside the room. Most of the Council hovered near the head of the room, while Caius sat in a chair off to the side. In the very center of this room, there was a recording device—an Oracle Drive. Yeul eyed them carefully, staying vigilantly silent as she awaited her permission.

"Yeul ex Vitae of Paddra," one of the Council members said. "Welcome. Please step forward."

"Thank you," Yeul said. She moved closer to the device in the middle of the room.

"Caius Ballad de Canor, Seer of Paddra," the Council member continued. "Please step forward, as well."

Caius rose from his seat and walked toward the device, slowly and with measured steps. He stood beside Yeul, close enough that their shoulders touched, and laced his fingers between hers. She hoped the Council could not see the simple but weighty gesture.

Caius did not need further instructions. They could both hear the question that the Council asked him every time, ringing unspoken in the air: "What have you seen?" He stood in silence for a few seconds, keeping Yeul's hand in his, before he tugged his hand gently from her grasp and reached for the Oracle Drive. As soon as his hand neared the device, it began to glow with a strange green light.

He closed his eyes as the image began to take shape above the device. It showed the same six fighters they had all seen for the past few weeks: a young boy with whitish hair; a young girl with pink hair; a tall, slim woman with dark hair; an older man with dark skin and big hair; a younger man with a bandanna tied around his mop of blond hair. And finally, as always, the stunning young woman who had pink hair and wore the uniform of a soldier, the woman toward whom Yeul always felt a twinge of hatred. Caius had spent meeting after meeting revealing these visions to the Council, and Yeul was certain by the way that he watched the pink-haired woman that over time, he had become unconditionally enamored with her. She always watched these visions play out with held breath and clenched fists, but the Council never seemed to notice. Nor did they notice Caius's reaction. Before she even had time to glance at the distorted images in the air above the device, they disappeared, and the Council's meeting commenced.

"These six individuals," one of the Council members said, standing up, "they have been changed into l'Cie by the powerful beings that watch over their world, and they think that they can change their fates, is that correct?"

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the room. Yeul pressed her lips together, saying nothing.

"But do you really believe that they will succeed? All the odds are against them. The only thing they can do is hope." The Council member brushed his hands against the white robe he wore. "And keep hoping, up until the very moment when they are changed into Cie'th."

The other Council members began to speak amongst themselves again, and Caius and Yeul stood in silence at the center of the room. After a minute, the Council member who had risen from his seat clapped his hands, signaling that he wanted quiet. "Caius, thank you. We have no need to discuss these visions, for they are highly similar to those you have shown us in the past."

Caius nodded and turned away, taking Yeul's hand in his and pulling her out of the room after him. Together they began the trek out of the capitol building. She kept her fingers intertwined with his, but she recognized the look in his eyes. It was the look he got whenever he had those visions, whenever he watched the pink-haired soldier in them.

Yeul allowed Caius to hold her hand until they had stepped free of the building's gates and rounded the corner, and once they were out of sight, she spun around, wrenching her hand out of his grasp. "Caius," she exclaimed, rounding on him.

"What is it?" Caius questioned, studying her with concerned eyes.

"Why do you pretend with me?" she demanded. "And when we are in the presence of the Council!"

"I do not pretend, Yeul," Caius answered smoothly.

"Yes, you do. I have seen the look in your eyes when you watch that soldier in your visions. She is the one you want, not me, and that is disregarding the fact that you should not harbor feelings for anyone in the first place."

"Yeul, you misunderstand." He stepped forward, his hand brushing hers again, but she flinched back at the gesture. His tone sounded unwaveringly sure, but his eyes betrayed a different story.

"And what is it that I misunderstand?" she demanded. "Go ahead, tell me, Caius." His name left her lips like a curse, and she stared him down with unfeeling eyes.

He opened his mouth to reply, but just as he did so, he paused. She watched his eyes glaze over, take on a vacant look, and then a strange sigil appeared against his irises, glowing with an unearthly light. Yeul's own eyes widened. She knew what it meant—another vision. Another vision which Caius was not yet supposed to experience.

"Caius," she said. This time her tone sounded surprised, softer, even desperate. "What is it? What's happening…?"

This time he did not answer. The sigil flashed in his eyes and then disappeared, and he collapsed to his knees. Yeul moved to catch him before he hit the ground, holding him by the shoulders at arm's length at first, and then shifting to his side and cradling his head in her lap.

"Caius, please," she whispered. "You cannot do this to me."

His eyes fluttered closed, and she pressed a hand to his cheek to find that he already felt cold. She shook her head, repeating his name.

Slowly he blinked, meeting her gaze briefly before letting his eyes close again. "Yeul," he whispered, his lips scarcely moving, his voice hardly audible.

"What is it, Caius?" she demanded in a fervent whisper. "What did you see?"

He said nothing. She worried that he was already gone, and moved to shake his shoulder, but he continued, his hand extending from his side to clasp hers. "The six fighters, the six l'Cie," he whispered hoarsely. "Their fates changed. They did not become Cie'th. Instead they destroyed Orphan. They… changed their own futures."

"That is… not possible," Yeul insisted. "What do you mean, Caius?"

"This future is different," he gasped.

"What do you mean?" Yeul exclaimed. His hand went limp in hers, and his eyes closed a final time. He slipped completely to the ground beside her, and she crouched over him, still clutching at his cold hand.

_This future is different._

Those were his final words.

Yeul felt her anger consuming her; she felt the adrenaline of it rushing through her veins. An idea came to her, and she hated herself for even thinking of it, but she knew it was the only way. She let go of Caius's hand and stood up from the place where she had knelt next to his lifeless body. She took one last glance at his face, silent and emotionless in death. She had wanted to be the last one to see it, but that could not be so. This was the only way.

She had to leave this place before the members of the Council showed up.

"My deepest apologies, Caius Ballad de Canor," she whispered, and she turned on her heel and ran away, running to the horizon, running to nowhere, running to find something which she did not know if she would ever reach.

A time gate.


End file.
